Shuffling Cards

You know how to shuffle cards, right? You know, like that seen in the movies or at the casino?

I was fourteen and I really, really, really wanted to be able to shuffle the cards, smoothly and have them make that rghrghrghrgh sound when they tap each other, all 52 of them coming together into alignment from opposite sides. I don’t know why, but I had to master it.

There I was, Saturday night, babysitting, the young boys in bed, with my deck of cards. I was focused; determined and passionate about getting this practice down good. I fumbled. I dropped cards. I spewed cards. I was terrible, actually aweful. I seemed to have no skill at this. I kept at it anyway. Until all of a sudden, I did it. Watchfully, I did it again. The cards lined up just so and it was smooth dexterity and collaboration–my hands and those cards, together.

I kept at it. I wanted it to be so smooth, so effortless, so amazing. I hankered for this practice to become second nature to me. I was fervent in my quest for nimble fingers making this magic with a deck of cards.

I spent the entire evening with this practice. To this day, I have the ability to effortlessly pick up a deck of cards and shuffle them beautifully. To what end, you may be wondering? Because it was my desire. It is a simple as that. And it still pleases me, that when I play cards, I can shuffle them in a manner that is to my own standard, elegant and effortless.

Perhaps you wonder, as I do; what brought this up now? Honestly? We’ll never really know. But I got to thinking, what made it so poignant for me? Why does it stand out? Perhaps it’s because I took a relatively small thing, a small but really wanted desire and I saw it through to its achievement.

I can see I was:
1. Passionate about this desire
2. Dedicated to learning it
3. Willing to practice, to do it and have focus on my desired outcome
4. Willing to tolerate repeated failure in return for the possibility of success.

I sense a wisdom in this story. Its time to re-shuffle this deck of mine and stack the odds in my favor.

Follow me in my journey, as I step into the change I wish to be. Till next time.

Cindy, How often do I recognize my own achievements, my own goals, my own breakthroughs? Maybe that is why this old memory came up; for me to applaud my own accomplishment, for my self to roll out the accolades. While it seemed like a simple endeavor at the time, it really was a big deal, I really did want to claim that skill set. Why not encourage my break-throughs and claim my successes, celebrate the victories. Because I AM a big deal. I want to remember again and again how worthy and valuable I am.